Ulrick Chérubin

Ulrick Chérubin
Chérubin during an event associated to Amos' centennial celebration
Mayor of Amos
In office
2002 – September 25, 2014
Preceded byMurielle Angers-Turpin
Succeeded byDonald Blanchet
Personal details
Born(1943-12-24)December 24, 1943
Jacmel, Haiti
DiedSeptember 25, 2014(2014-09-25) (aged 70)
Amos, Quebec, Canada
SpouseImmacula Morriset[1]
ProfessionTeacher

Ulrick Chérubin (December 24, 1943 – September 25, 2014) was a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Amos, Quebec, from 2002 until his death in 2014.[2] He was one of the first Black Canadians to be elected a mayor in Quebec.[3]

Early life

The youngest of five children, Chérubin was born in Jacmel, Haiti, in 1943.[4] He was educated in Haiti, where he was a childhood friend and classmate of Michel Adrien, who would later become mayor of Mont-Laurier, Quebec.[3]

Fleeing the dictatorship regime of François Duvalier, Chérubin left Haiti while he was still studying mathematics in a Port-au-Prince university.[5] He moved to Canada in 1970 to study education at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières,[6] and subsequently taught religion in Cap-de-la-Madeleine.[6] In 1971, he married Immacula Morriset, a nurse also originally from Haiti.

Chérubin continued to teach in 1973, and also studied administration and English as a Second Language teaching at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.[3] He moved to Amos in 1974.

Political career

Chérubin was first elected as a municipal councillor in Amos in 1994, winning his seat with a five-hundred vote majority.[6] After being re-elected unopposed as a councillor in 1998, Chérubin was elected to the position of mayor of Amos. In 2004, he was awarded the Jackie Robinson Award, in honour of his status as a pioneering Black Canadian, by the Montreal Association of Black Business Persons and Professionals.[7]

In 2009, city councillors Charles Yancey and Chuck Turner of Boston, Massachusetts, sponsored a motion declaring January 2, 2010, to be Ulrick Chérubin Day in the City of Boston, when he visited the city.[1]

Chérubin was most recently re-elected in 2013, winning his fourth consecutive term, winning 73% of the vote in a victory over Amos municipal councillor Éric Mathieu.[8]

On November 10, 2013, Chérubin appeared on Le Banquier, the Quebec version of Deal or No Deal, where he won a total of $222,500. Chérubin, who was selected to take part in the program out of a pool of eight thousand initial applicants, appeared in order to promote and raise funds for the centennial celebration of the town of Amos.[9]

Death

On September 25, 2014, Chérubin died in Amos, aged 70 from cardiac failure.[2][10]

References

  1. ^ a b "Honorable Ulrick Chérubin" (PDF). Office of the City Clerk, Boston, Massachusetts. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Le maire d'Amos, Ulrick Chérubin, est mort". Radio-Canada. September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Blatchford, Andy (March 31, 2013). "How two Haitian friends became Quebec mayors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  4. ^ "Ulrick Chérubin". Cape Breton Post (in French). October 7, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  5. ^ "Politique | Actualités | L'Écho Abitibien et Le Citoyen de la Vallée de l'or et Le Citoyen de l'Harricana". www.lechoabitibien.ca. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015.
  6. ^ a b c Pierre, Samuel (2007). Ces Québécois venus d'Haïti (in French). Presses inter Polytechnique. pp. 451–453. ISBN 978-2553014116.
  7. ^ "Three honoured with Jackie Robinson Awards". The Gazette, May 9, 2004.
  8. ^ "Ulrick Chérubin récolte un quatrième mandat à la mairie d'Amos". Radio-Canada (in French). November 3, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  9. ^ Guindon, Martin (November 10, 2013). "Ulrick Chérubin gagne 222 500 $ au Banquier". Abitibi Express (in French). Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  10. ^ "Ulrick Cherubin, one of Canada's first black mayors, dead at 70". Sun News Network, September 25, 2014.